A pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Babatunde Dada was found coughing blood after allegedly being stabbed and robbed by two teenagers that he helped off the streets, a witness told the Lagos State High Court sitting at TBS on Tuesday.
The witness Michael Dada, who is the younger to the deceased, was led in evidence before the court by the Lagos State director of public prosecutions (DPP) Babajide Martins.
The teens, Farouk Mohammed, 16, and Kasali Jamiu, 19, said to be new converts to Christianity at the church branch in Festac area of Lagos where the pastor worked, are standing trial before Justice Sherifat Sonaike for the December 2, 2021 murder of 46-year-old Dada.
Michael said, “On the 2nd of December 2021, I received a call from my younger sister, Oluwakemi Dada who lived with my deceased brother. She was screaming on the phone, that my brother was lying in a pool of blood in the church.
“Before getting to the church, she called me back that my brother had been taken to Navy Town Hospital where they took the body. There I found him already confirmed dead.”
He said his sister told him “there were two strange boys working with them whom the church had accommodated.
“According to her, when she interrogated my deceased brother about them, he said they were new converts and the church had accommodated them on the church premises. He said he didn’t want the two boys to be stranded or roaming around the church premises so decided to engage them in his laundry business.
“The boys started working with him and were going to be paid. According to my sister Oluwakemi, on that fateful day, my deceased brother told her and the other laundry workers he was going to the bank and that he would be back.
“She said when he came back, he went upstairs in the church to go and rest. After a while, she wondered why he had not come down after resting for quite sometime. One of the laundry workers went upstairs to pick a cloth to wash. On getting there, he screamed. I asked my sister why they were not listening. They said the generator was on.
“The worker screamed and called the rest. They all met the pastor in a pool of blood and he was coughing up blood. They noticed that the two strange boys, Farouk and Jamiu were not there.”
Michael said he asked about the deceased’s phone but it was nowhere to be found including some of the deceased’s belongings.
Justice Shonaike adjourned till December 12, 2022 for hearing of the defendants’ bail applications and January 10, 2023 for continuation of trial.
The defendants are facing four-count charges bordering on conspiracy to murder, murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery.
